The Gospel of Luke 12:22-34 Do Not Worry
Luke 12:22-34 · Vern Peterman · Dec 13, 2015
Gospel of Luke, No. 51
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492652346825

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We want to encourage you to sign up for electives. We have First Corinthians, a very dynamic and dramatic book covering lots of different issues and topics. So that's one to consider. The principle of position. Mike and Courtney and JD will teach that. And then how to study the Bible, which will involve nine weeks of going through introducing New Testament Greek. Following that, we'll have three weeks of the Greek Old Testament and looking at that. The latter part of the year will include lots of different examples and going through things so that you'll have plenty of practice on how to do this. So anyway, they're all three very good choices.

So I encourage you to pick one and sign up sign up sheets are in the lobby Okay now into Luke 12 22 through 34 And this is the passage that Courtney read for us here Last Sunday's passage Jesus warned about greed and he told this parable about a rich man who was planning to build bigger barns to store all of his productive crops and And being rich was not a problem, and nor was having productive land, and even the plan to increase his crop storage was fine.

But no consideration of God, that was the problem. None whatsoever. Here, Jesus is going to emphasize, do not worry, and then towards the end, don't be afraid. He's going to shift from warnings about unspiritual greed of plenty, in the midst of plenty, to warning over worry over not having enough, right?

So Jesus is going to encourage his disciples to trust God for provision. He'll end up telling them to be kingdom-minded. Jesus will say these things in a Jewish context, as we're going to see. He'll also find, however, real value for us in the body of Christ, and plenty of things that are applicable.

Now, one of the things to point out is our culture becomes more secular. We actually have atheists and skeptic and humanist advertisements. I've seen them in buses. I've seen them on billboards. Our culture is becoming increasingly more secular. Believers are being drawn into this worldly drift as well.

So these words of our Lord here in this passage, are especially needed among us today, where thinking even with God in the consideration is being discouraged. Thinking about things without any consideration of God, as the secular world prefers to do, and would prefer that we did, leaves us depending on physical things to satisfy needs that can only be fulfilled spiritually.

So here's Luke 12, 22, and he said to his disciples, for this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life as to what you will eat, nor for your body as to what you will put on. So worry can be about the past, people can worry about the past, which of course you can't change. People will worry about the present, and often there's still something that can be done. and they're worried about future possibilities, which might not even happen.

As a matter of fact, here's one lady that says, worrying works. 90% of the things I worry about never happen. It prevents it. So yeah, it's very productive. All right. So to worry is to focus on something. And it means that if we are worrying, our focus is not where it should be. Matter of fact, let's put it this way.

Worrying is taking an assignment on that God has not delegated to us. Worrying is taking an assignment on that God has not delegated to us. Does God ever want you to worry? No. Worry is not at all the same as problem solving, prevention, taking action, or prayer. Not at all the same. Those three things are fine, but worry is not those. Worry is not those. Here's Luke 12, 23, and for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. The atheist skeptic would say that the physical realm is all that exists. Just what we have here physically is all that exists. There are a number of aggressive atheists who are still around.

This is a picture of Christopher Hitchens. He's been dead for about four years now. He was one of those guys that was in a competition to see whether the cigarettes or the alcohol would do him in. He found out, but he also knows the truth now, and it's too late. Not only is there no God, he would say, but there's no spiritual realm either. It's all just physical.

The Christian and Biblical viewpoint is that there is a physical realm and there is a spiritual realm. God, a spiritual being, created both. A very different perspective and worldview. Jesus is going actually one step further than just affirming that there's a spiritual realm here and that God created both the physical and spiritual realms. He's going beyond just saying what exists to saying this is where our dependence needs to be.

And the caution here is even a believer can get sucked in. A believer can get pulled into the world's perspective just because that's what the rest of the world is doing. That's the perspective from which they come. And a believer, though they have their eyesight, spiritually speaking, turned on, the believer can end up gravitating towards the world's viewpoint where there's dulling of the senses. That's what we encountered, for example, in the book of Hebrews, the dull of hearing. And so it's important that believers keep in mind that, hey, these people don't see what I see, spiritually speaking, and not fall into the unbeliever's viewpoint. So even though the believer has an understanding of spiritual things, day-to-day living can get pulled towards the world's view if we don't put a focus on this. It can draw our focus to physical things and thinking like the rest of the world.

Here's Luke 12, 24. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap. They have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds. So, consider the raven. Now, that's very interesting. What's stunning here is the ravens was on the list of birds that were wicked, evil birds. By the law of Moses, they were an unclean kind of bird, and you were to basically stay away from them.

Leviticus 11.15 and Deuteronomy 14.14 both said, don't eat these things.

Now one of the things that's interesting in the temple there in Jerusalem, that taller part of the temple is actually about 15 stories tall, so it's very tall, but at the top they had a kind of set of spikes and jagged edge there. Oh, yes, it was gold, but it was there to keep the birds from landing on the edge because you especially wouldn't want to have any of these unclean birds land on top of there, and you'd actually be able to see them, aside from the mess that they would leave down below, right? And so they have these jagged edges and sloped areas to keep the unclean birds, including ravens, from landing there at the top of the temple. Because you most certainly wouldn't want an unclean bird to be there in the temple area.

Now, so consider the ravens. Jesus' words were surprising, and no law-respecting Jew would even want to consider a raven, right? It's like, ooh, it's an unclean bird. Yucky. Ravens were not known for taking great care in the provision of their young. They're kind of erratic. But nonetheless, the little babies grow up quickly. By about 20-21 days, they're already beginning to be independent. Just about three weeks out there.

Psalm 147.9 does say that God takes care of even the young ravens. Very interesting. And that's because the mothers and fathers don't. Don't take very good care of them. God feeds them. God provides for the ravens, and even their young. But God values us much more than the ravens.

He will provide for us as well. God's provision and his providence is his provision and circumstantial guidance. We'll talk about that in a minute. His revelation and nature are ways in which God reveals himself. And he desires that we seek him. And he uses his providence as one of the ways in which people are drawn to seek him.

You have this on page two of your handout. Here's God's revelations to mankind, and the five that we point out are first three, general revelation, nature, providence or guidance, and then conscience, and then scripture, And then Jesus Christ, those two, scripture and Jesus Christ, are special revelations. And we have the scripture passages there. Let's look at the description.

In nature, God reveals his existence and some aspects of his character. His eternal power and deity is what Romans 1 would tell us. You can look at nature, and a lot of people will look at nature and they say, oh boy, this is really great. And nature is great. I really enjoy, for example, wildlife and that kind of thing. And some of the scenery is just spectacular in nature. Nonetheless, there's a lot that nature doesn't tell us.

The next one, providence or guidance. God provides for people with rain and crops and food and things of that sort. but also sets limits so that people will seek Him. That's what you saw, for example, in Acts 14, 15 through 17, is God setting limits so that people might seek Him. So provision on the one hand, but also limitation so that people might seek Him. And then the next one is conscience.

This is out of Romans chapter 2, reveals that there is an innate moral law, right? The next are special revelations of scripture, which we have in God's words. We were talking about this morning in the elective, the Old Testament and then the New Testament. And a lot of the spiritual gifts were given in the interim until the New Testament was developed. A lot of the apostolic era spiritual gifts. So scripture and Jesus Christ are special revelations of the Lord. So here, what you have in this passage is Jesus Christ, a special revelation, is speaking, as recorded in scripture, another special revelation, giving the example of the raven, which is about nature and God's providence, his provision and guidance. So four of the five revelations are being referred to here.

All right, so Luke 12, 25, and 26, and which of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his lifespan? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Now, the translators have a bit of a challenge here, because the Greek actually does not say hour literally, nor does it say lifespan literally. Literally speaking, it would come across as you cannot add a single cubit to your length. And I think what that's referring to is more steps to your life. You can't make your life longer by even a single step by worrying.

Worrying doesn't even get that done. If then you cannot do even a very little thing, one additional step, why do you worry about other matters? So, here's this young lady, her mom was worried about her trip to the Grand Canyon, so she sent her this picture, which I'm sure allayed all her fears.

So, what does worry contribute? People are shaking their heads out there. So, for all the emotional energy and mental focus that goes into worry and angst and anxiety and fretting and fearful apprehension, One would think that worrying and all of its facets was a really useful and valuable and helpful and profitable activity for all the effort that gets put into it for people to pursue, right? Here we have a picture of an antique Baltic amber worry beads. That's only $15,000. Available on eBay, I think.

Okay, so are there any advantages to worrying? Does worrying accomplish anything really useful? The questions Jesus asks strongly imply no. Now, here I have listed for you all of the advantages and benefits of worrying. Now, I didn't put this as a slide in your handout, so I'll just wait a minute so you can take a minute to get these down. Everybody's got that? Oh, good. OK, now we go on to the next one. Here's Luke 12, 27.

Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. So here's wild lilies in Israel. And indeed, they are beautiful flowers. And I would point out, here's another point where Jesus is using nature and God's providence to talk about these lilies. So lilies grew wild in parts of Israel, and they still do today. This is a modern lily. They are indeed beautiful flowers.

They are lovely. And what they tend to do is grow in a large area. So you'll have a number of them all in one area. So it's really nice. They grow naturally, not even toiling or spinning to make their appearance beautiful, wherever they have the right soil and water conditions. Consider the lilies, toiling and spinning, interestingly enough. Those, in order to produce clothing, would have been seen as women's work in biblical times. And certainly the lilies do not have their beautiful adornment from worrying.

Now Solomon, in all his glory, the days of the reign of King Solomon were the glory days of Israel, at least physically. The extent of the nation of Israel is the greatest that it ever was under Solomon, more so than under David. But Solomon had glorious physical conditions in his court and in his country.

He had mines. He had a large storage of gold. He had lots of things. The other thing he had lots of was lots of wives and concubines. You know, I was reading, here's Solomon, 700 wives and 300 concubines. I cannot imagine, you know. Excuse me, what's your name? But nonetheless, those were the glory days for Israel. Those were the glory days.

His spectacular physical assets, his access to natural resources. I mean, he had access to resources one end to the other. His building of the temple, David was not allowed to do that. He built the temple, brought in the timbers there at Joppa, and so those came in there. His building of the temple, his international renown for wisdom, that enhanced and provided for the glory of his attire and his court. 1 Kings 10 would be one of the places you could go to see a description of that. Yet the wild lilies, Jesus says, are more glorious. Now, we get in here, okay, here's the lily. It doesn't toil or spin. Is Jesus saying don't work? Well, he's not saying don't work because he in fact was a carpenter for years until he started his public ministry. So no, that's not the message, right?

God can make provision for lilies and beauty for us to behold. He can provide for us. One of the things that Jesus is bringing out in a perspective here is to look at our work, is to look at all of God's provision as from the Lord. Even the things that we say, well, I worked and I put in the effort and time and all that, but even your ability to do that is from the Lord, right? The Lord wants us to use all of the things that He has granted to us and entrusted to us for Him. These verses are telling us that we see the means by which God provides for us, even our working, is from God's hand. Even the beauty and the aesthetic values are from Him as well.

Here's Luke 12, 28, but if God so clothes the grass in the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, you men of little faith? Jesus shifts from the lilies which eventually do you know die and you have others grow up to the grass here and They say thrown into the furnace the grass was used daily just to kindle fires and things of that sort But the message here is God values you more the father chose us were in the church and to be in Christ before the foundation of the world. Isn't that amazing? He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Human beings were created in the image and likeness of God right at the outset, Genesis 1, 26 and 27. Next, Christ loved you and gave himself for you and for the joy set before him endured the cross. Does he consider you valuable? Yes. As beautiful and as awesome as nature can be, he didn't do that for nature. What's interesting is there isn't even a plan of salvation for the angels that fall, but there is for you and me. Really amazing.

Here's Luke 12 29, and do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink and do not keep worrying. Hmm. So Jesus isn't telling us never to eat again, nor to think about how we will provide for ourselves and for our families. He is saying not to make our food and drink and clothing the focus of our lives. Certainly not at the exclusion of spiritual matters and priorities. Almost certainly, Jesus is saying here, once more, not to worry.

Don't keep on worrying. Worrying is just a very poor investment of time and resources. Think about this. How am I going to not worry? It's kind of like, don't think of a pink hippopotamus. Right? Don't. Don't you dare think of a pink hippopotamus. All right?

So I would suggest this, because we have church-age truth here. If a believer is abiding in Christ and beholding Him, walking in the Spirit, in fellowship with Christ, reckoning himself dead to the sin nature, but also alive to God, then is that believer going to be spending time worrying? I think not. If the focus is on fellowship with the Lord, if the focus is on beholding the Lord, then worry is not going to occupy our thoughts and time.

That believer is going to solve problems where they can be solved, make decisions and take action where it's both possible and appropriate. And by the way, it's possible for us to get worried and even try to take action and take responsibility for things that aren't ours, right? Taking on someone else's issues. If we take everything to the Lord and trust the Lord with the matter of concern, then that's going to take care of it.

If we don't do these things, then worry is very easily carried out. We get sucked into it. Here's Luke 12, 30. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek, but your Father knows that you need these things. This is one of the indicators that this is a very Jewish audience in Israel. He's talking about the nations of the world, the ethnos. This is the Gentiles. The nations of the world, the Gentiles seek after all these things, all the physical stuff.

They don't know the God who cares for them. They've made up gods who don't care. That was one thing when Paul would go into a pagan city, right? There would be all kinds of gods, lowercase g, and the gods never blessed you. They never loved you. Didn't happen. You had to do things to get the gods, lowercase g, attention. They made up gods who don't care, don't love you, and don't bless you.

Or they've made a god out of all the stuff. Let's worship the stuff. God knows that we need things, and one of the reasons why He knows that we need things is He made us to have needs. He made us to have needs. He knows what we need. He made us to have those needs in the first place.

In Luke 12.31, But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Jesus said to seek his kingdom, that's what he also said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6.33. There is the Mount of Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, looking down at the Sea of Galilee. I think, Courtney, you got that shot, right? Yeah. Jesus said these words in a very Jewish context, in the land of Israel, among the Israelites. He's talking with those words to the right people.

We in the body of Christ will reign with Christ in the coming kingdom. But guess what we're to be seeking now? Be seeking to set our minds on things above. This is Colossians 3, 1 through 4. We'll get there in a minute. When we talk about kingdom, this is the millennial kingdom, which is a thousand-year reign. That's Revelation chapter 20, six times. A thousand-year reign of Christ, yet future, perhaps as close as seven years from today. Here's Colossians 3, 1 through 4, which reminds us as church-age believers what we're to be seeking.

Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Now, it's said that some people are so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good. You ever heard that? But from Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, we see that we must be heavenly minded if we're to do any earthly good at all. We must be heavenly minded. Set your minds on things above. Keep seeking the things above.

Here's Luke 12.32.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. So Jesus called his disciples here, the little flock. In the Old Testament, God has pictured a shepherd who cares for and protects his sheep. That's Psalm 23. It's not the only passage, but it's one of them. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, etc. And Jesus calls himself the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. This is John 10, 11.

Paul called the church at Ephesus a flock as well. As a matter of fact, he said that Christ purchased that flock with his own blood. The Lord wants us to trust Him as our shepherd and not to place our ultimate trust in money and the things that money will buy. He will gladly give you the kingdom. These disciples understand the gospel of the kingdom. So he speaks in those terms that they understand. So that is what Jesus refers to here.

These disciples were going to have a lot to learn about the church and about all the truths that were going to come about in less than a year's time. In probably six months or less, he would be crucified, buried, and raised. And in less than two months after that, he would ascend and the Holy Spirit would be given to these men and women. We in the church, the body of Christ, though heavenly seated now and having a heavenly citizenship, will have our part in the kingdom, reigning with Christ as his bride.

We will be an island of grace. Nation and an earth ruled by law you imagine that We will be an island of grace in a world ruled by law Later on in Luke in Luke 22 28 through 30 Jesus will tell these men You are those who have stood by me in my trials and just as my father has granted me a kingdom I I grant you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This is particularly these disciples' assignment, and this is at a time when Judas is gone. He is soon going to be going to the Garden of Gethsemane at this point, but he tells them, you will fellowship with me and you will rule over the twelve tribes.

Here's Luke 12.33, sell your possessions and give to charity, make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. So the question is, should we sell everything and give it all to charity? Should we? Oh, you want me to answer that? Okay.

There are those who have followed this verse actually totally. They take a vow of poverty and whatnot. I was reading about five years ago there was an Austrian millionaire who said he was going to get rid of everything. And it turned out he was a con man. But there actually are people who have done exactly this.

Taking this verse out of the context of all scripture would likely lead us, however, to the wrong conclusion. And that's because the Bible also has verses about saving up for future needs, caring for your family, etc. So the idea that everybody in the church is supposed to sell everything and give all to charity is not a fully biblical conclusion. So what's Jesus saying here in these verses, right? He's saying to value spiritual wealth above material wealth and earthly things. That's, I think, the key. Not some command from the Lord that you've got to go sell everything and then give it all away. But rather, what do you value? What do you value?

Actually, Barnabas is a good example of how this was carried out. Here's Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth. who was also called Barnabas by the Apostles, so that's a nickname, which translated means son of encouragement, and who owned a tract of land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles' feet.

One of the things that you see in the passage right before this is everybody had everything in common. Now, is that the model? Is that the way everything's supposed to be done? This was actually a very unique circumstance. where yes, a great many people did, you know, sell everything and everybody had everything in common.

But as a unique circumstance, and that's when the apostles were right there, they were directed by the Holy Spirit and how things were distributed. We no longer have apostles and the apostles themselves were soon scattered and went into different parts of the then known world. So, The other question that gets addressed here is where?

All that we have in heaven is not vulnerable. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing and the heavenly place is in Christ Jesus. Is that vulnerable? No, it is not. Can't be touched, can't be tainted, can't be taken. Everything that we have here is vulnerable.

That's why we have insurance policies. But insurance doesn't take care of everything, right? I have insurance on my house so that if I have some kind of a disaster happen at my house, and it does happen, some kind of a disaster at the house, so I get my house back, right? But there's one thing. They'll sell you life insurance, and that doesn't mean you get your life back, right?

They can't do that, okay? We have no need for insurance policies for our assets in heaven. And by the way, if somebody tries to sell you something like that, we have no need for insurance policies. We do, however, need assurance from the Word of what we have in heaven, and that comes from God's Word. So that's why we take a look at these things biblically, because we don't need insurance, but we do need biblical assurance of what we have, and need to be reminded of that.

Here is Luke 12, 34, the last verse in the passage, "...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So what this tells us is to value spiritual wealth. value spiritual wealth. Whatever a person values the most will be the place where a person's heart will settle and center. It's especially significant that the Apostle Paul refers to God's attributes in terms of wealth.

We looked at that last week. God did not keep his spiritual wealth, however, all to himself but lavished it on us. Isn't it amazing this word lavished gets used there? And that's actually from Ephesians chapter 1. We don't have to wait until we get new bodies in heaven to enjoy God's wealth. It gets enjoyed here and now. We looked last week at these passages, Ephesians 1, 7 and 8. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

Ephesians 1.18, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Ephesians 2.4-7, including being rich in mercy, the surpassing riches of His grace. Multiple magnitudes of wealth, spiritually speaking.

Ephesians 3.8-9, to me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. And 2 Corinthians 4, 7, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. I'm going to close with this as our closing prayer, Ephesians 3, 14 through 21. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, and that's the one thing I won't do up here. I have to be able to read this, right?

And from every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit and the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness God now to him who is able to Do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever Amen